Your ExLover is Dead
by afrocurl22
Summary: A tragic and surprising death brings two people back together after a few years apart.
1. Prologue: The End of the World

**So this is my first time writing a Roadie fic. Forgive me as I work my way through this story.**

**Inspired by the song "Your Ex-Lover is Dead" by the Stars. I will use the lyrics from time to time, so I'm sure you'll all get the song by the end. For those of you interested, I'm also going to write a fic based on this song for Ryan/Summer. The options were just too good to not use.**

**The title for the prologue is inspired by a party that appears in "Rules of Attraction" by Bret Easton Ellis. It's not that important, but I thought some of you might like to know.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own "The OC" or any of the characters. This is just my imagination at work.**

Your Ex-Lover is Dead

Prologue: The End of the World

Ryan Atwood was a frat party at Cornell, and he had a feeling that he was just seeing the Dark Side. In much the same way that he'd grown used to outrageous parties in Newport, something about this party in Ithaca was too surreal. "End of the World," the biggest party at Cornell was in full force, and Ryan couldn't find himself at ease. He decided to find one of the reported ten kegs around this house in hopes of it settling his mind about this party.

As he made his way to the keg he ran into several of his classmates dressed in next to nothing and running around without a care in the world. While it didn't seem too strange, he reminded himself that this was upstate New York, not southern California; those girls in their bras and panties were going to get cold, he thought, as the gaggle of girls headed for the door.

Savoir complex and all of his Newport baggage in hand, Ryan decided to go outside to make sure that nothing bad happened to any of those girls. He stood close to the door as the group of women danced around. They danced for about five minutes, just long enough for the warmth from the alcohol to leave their bodies, and then they noticed Ryan standing.

"What are you looking at?" one of them asked with slurred speech.

"I wanted to make sure that nothing happened to any of you lovely women. Did I do something wrong?" he responded back.

Another one of the women responded, "No, but we weren't expecting an audience. Because you watched us, are you interested in a little fun?"

Ryan thought to himself before he accepted the offer. Truthfully, he hadn't had sex in months and he was about ready to burst. The thought of drunk women made him think of Marissa, but he decided that this situation was completely different to anything he had experienced with her.

Ryan followed the gaggle back inside the large house and up to a secluded room on the third floor. He closed the door behind him, as he watched the women look him up and down. His thoughts immediately turned to the fact that he was clearly not drunk enough to be around these women, but he also knew that could change quickly.

Coyly he asked, "What are your plans for the rest of the night?"

"Well, that all depends on you now," said the women who noticed Ryan outside. She has blonde hair, blue eyes and looked like she was from Newport, but he knew better than that. Finding someone else from Orange County was like finding a needle in a haystack Ryan thought. This woman was from the East Coast, but that didn't matter too much, as long as she was up for some fun, he didn't care.

Intrigued by that idea, Ryan decided to go with her response. "Well, I need some more beer. Can I get you anything?"

"You," responded the blonde. "If I have to wait until you get buzzed, then I will."

Startled by her response, Ryan left the room and went downstairs to find a keg and drink for a few minutes. When he returned downstairs, the party was bigger than before. It took him twenty minutes to find a keg and get some beer.

After he had another cup of beer, he was forced outside by the sheer number of people at the party. Determined to get back upstairs to the mystery blonde, he decided to find another way back into the house. He noticed that there was lattice work going up one side of the house. He desperately wanted to be upstairs, so he took to climbing the weak structure.

Midway up the side of the house, Ryan noticed that his hands, without gloves, were beginning to get very cold. More determined than before, he tried to climb the remaining height. When he went to grab for another piece of lattice, his other hand slipped from the cold. Ryan suddenly knew that he was falling backward, but with all of the beer he had before, he was unable to change his position.

The top of his head hit the snow first, and then caused him to collapse in the snow.

With the party going, no one heard him scream. No one bothered to look outside. Ryan was still, unable to move in the snow.

So what do you think? I know there's no Seth and Marissa yet, but I had to kill Ryan first. I'd love feedback, since I'm still new at this. So, please hit that little purple button and review what I've done so far.


	2. G d that was strange

**Alright, here is the first real chapter of _Your Ex-Lover is Dead_. I'm sorry for all of the Roadie fans who found it and wanted to see instant gratification. It's coming now, I promise.**

**Like I said last time, the lyrics are from _Your Ex-Lover is Dead_ by The Stars. Parts of the lyrics will be included in this chapter, and more will follow as the story develops.**

**Disclaimer: I still don't own _The OC_ or any of the characters. This is just my brain working out its energy.**

**Feedback is, of course, welcomed. I want to know where some of you see this story going. **

Chapter 1: G-d that was Strange

The news of Ryan's death hit Newport shortly after a sober student found his body outside the house the next afternoon. Since no one had seen him fall, he was left outside to die, but if someone had seen him, everything would have been different.

Sandy, and Kirsten received the news first from the hospital in Ithaca. Neither one could believe the news; Ryan had always been able to take care of himself, without worry. He was strong and smart, and they couldn't understand how he had made such a poor choice. After a few hours, though, they realized that dwelling on how he died was useless, and started to let everyone close to Ryan know about his death.

Seth was the first person to hear about it from Sandy and Kirsten. He had been in his dorm room at Columbia, when they called.

"What? He's dead! How the hell did that happen?" was all that Seth could muster over 3000 miles.

"He was drunk, and he fell off a lattice he was trying to climb," Sandy, sadly, told his only son.

"Oh," Seth mumbled. He wasn't going to be able to process anymore information, so he thought of a way to end the conversation. "Do you need me to come home?"

Kirsten responded, "Of course we do Seth. Sandy and I both want to know who among your friends Ryan would have wanted to see him again." She was choking on her words, but was trying to remain calm for Seth.

"Ok. I'll look into flights and be home soon."

"We love you Seth," Sandy mentioned before Seth clicked his cell phone shut.

------

Marissa Cooper, after graduating from The Harbor School, made her way up to LA and was attending USC. As much as she hated Jimmy for leaving, she felt at home being there. She was close to Newport, but she still had enough distance between herself and her mom to remain sane.

Once Julie learned of Ryan's death, she called Marissa.

"Honey, are you sitting down?" Julie asked when Marissa answered the phone.

"Yes, Mom, but I don't like where this conversation is going."

"I have some bad news, sweetie. Ryan died yesterday at school. His funeral is Saturday. You're coming, yes?"

Marissa couldn't process the words coming over her phone. Ryan Atwood, the guy she spent most of her time in high school pining over, was dead.

"Um…sure Mom; I wouldn't miss it."

Inside, she wasn't sure what to do. She hadn't really thought of Ryan since they left Harbor. With all of the Fantastic Four going to different colleges, the group had fallen apart. Even when everyone was home for vacations, they never really saw each other.

This is going to be a strange event, she thought to herself. Suddenly, Marissa had this desire for cheap vodka. She knew it was because it reminded her of Ryan, but she had moved on since then, right. She wasn't the same girl that depended on new men to help her through her problems; she could take care of herself.

------

Marissa arrived at Ryan's funeral expecting to see everyone she dreaded the most. All of Newport had come out to show their support for the Cohens, even though most of those in attendance didn't think very highly of Ryan Atwood. To them, he was still the wayward kid adopted by Sandy that burned down a house, caused Caleb to have his first heart attack and was responsible for nearly sending Marissa Cooper to jail. All of the good that he had done in Newport was lost to them. Marissa couldn't help but feel very out of place, so she tried to stay close to the back of the church.

As the service ended, she tried to hide herself as Sandy, Kirsten and Seth walked by, but she caught Seth's attention as he left. She had to make her way to the Cohen house for the wake now; she'd been seen.

------

Seth walked around his house in a daze. Sandy and Kirsten were busy greeting and thanking people for showing up at Ryan's service earlier, and he didn't want to be reminded of why he was home in Newport anymore.

He still hated Newport with a firery passion, and losing Ryan only made it worse. During that phone call from his parents he realized that he only true friend in Newport was gone. When he came home for vacations he would return to being the social outcast of Newport. He never talked to anyone from Newport, especially after his break-up with Summer.

As he wondered around the house, he was stopped by Julie Cooper-Nichol. She seemed in good spirits, which surprised Seth.

"How are you doing?" she asked.

"I guess I'm doing alright, considering that I just lost my only friend in Newport," he replied. He desperately wanted to leave his ex-Step-Grandmother's side, but she kept talking.

"Well, that's too bad Seth. You could always hang around Marissa, though I can't get her to stay in Newport more than a night anymore."

Shyly he replied, "I guess. It doesn't seem that she wants to be found right now."

"Oh, she's just found her way to the bar."

Seth noticed that Julie didn't have any concern in it as she mentioned Marissa and alcohol. He guessed she just didn't care enough, but decided not the push the subject.

"Ah, yes, Marissa Cooper and alcohol. Always a good combination!" he said sarcastically.

"Yes, it is Seth. Maybe you could try and cheer her up?"

"Sure. It's not like I want to talk to anyone else here."

With that, Seth walked away from Julie and over to the bar.

------

_G-d that was strange to see you again_

_Introduced by a friend of a friend_

_Smiled and said yes I think we've met before…_

**Well, here ends the first real chapter of my new project. I do have a map of this story in my head, but we'll see how it goes based on what all of you lovely people have to say. I'd really like to know if this story is interesting to people. So if you want to tell me something, please use that review button at the bottom.**


	3. Caught in the Rain

**So I want to thank Christine for giving me some positive feedback about this story. At least I know that someone is reading and enjoying it. **

**I haven't really mapped out this story, so if you review it, I may be able to incorporate your ideas into the story.**

**Disclaimer: I still don't own _The OC_ or _Your Ex-Lover is Dead_, but I can certainly use them to help my imagination, right?**

Chapter 2: Caught in the Rain

Seth's walk towards Marissa felt like an eternity to him. He was so tired of being around all of these fake people saying how sorry they were that Ryan was dead, and all he wanted was an escape.

"So, you look excited to be here," Seth said quietly as he stood behind Marissa, who was nursing a large glass of vodka with no ice.

"I could say the same for you," she responded. She remembered how Seth hated these parties, and didn't need to see his face to understand how badly he wanted to leave.

"Yeah, that's an understatement. I've been hoping to leave since before I left the cemetery."

"Well, I know you don't want to be here, and I certainly can't stand this place anymore, so why don't we leave?"

"Decorum dictates that I should stay, but Ryan wouldn't want me here, so I guess it's cool to leave." As Seth said Ryan's name Marissa took a very large gulp of her drink. She was trying to forget that he was the reason she was back in this hell, and the vodka had been the only thing, until Seth, that kept her sane during this party.

"Well then, let's get the hell out of here. I feel like every Newpsie is looking at me."

"The large glass of vodka probably didn't help Marissa." As he said that, Marissa shot him an evil look. "Alright…that was better left unsaid, got it."

"Since I know that you've been so good at this, how do we leave without drawing attention to ourselves?"

"We have to be stealth. I'm at home, so it's perfectly normal for me to go my room. We'll go out the window."

Marissa looked at Seth for a minute with a strange look on her face. "You expect me to climb down from your window in this Chanel dress?"

"Umm…well I've never done this with a girl before. You can change into something I've got if that helps."

"It's going to have to; I needed to leave this place five minutes ago."

After that, Seth and Marissa stood away from the bar and managed their way towards the front of house and up the stairs.

------

As Marissa ended Seth's room she noticed that not much had changed since Seth had gone away to Columbia. The room was still covered with posters of various bands and there were a few posters of sail boats. She remembered what a goofy guy Seth had been at Harbor. He seemed different, but somehow still unable to escape his life in Newport.

"What's the best thing for me to wear?" she asked as she wondered past the Rooney poster. She was reminded of the time when they along with Anna, Luke, Oliver, Ryan and Summer had seen them. Anytime she remembered Ryan she craved more vodka, but she was hoping for a better distraction in Seth.

"I've got plenty of tees over here, and I guess a pair of my jeans will have to do," Seth commented back.

As Seth wondered over to get a clean pair of 501s, Marissa was struck by how small his frame was compared to most of her male friends. She'd never really looked at him once it was acceptable for her to talk to him, but now that she was standing in his room about to get into a pair of his jeans, she couldn't help it.

He handed her a pair of jeans and his "Have you Hugged My T-shirt" shirt. Seth's awkwardness returned as he didn't know where to stand while Marissa pull up the jeans and put on his t-shirt. Seth's experiences with Summer were never as tender as watching Marissa change in his room. He hadn't had too much luck at Columbia, either.

Marissa was shocked at how much of Seth's reaction made an impression on her. No other boy had been so modest when it came to her body; Luke had been rather violent, and Ryan, well, she wanted to forget right now. Taking Seth's reaction to heart, she looked down at herself; she fit remarkably well into Seth's clothes. The jeans were big, but she didn't really notice. She mentally noted what Seth had done before she made her next move.

"So where are we going to go and how are we going to get there?" she asked.

Seth hadn't thought about where to go after the left the party. In his head, he was still thinking about how he was about to spend time with Marissa. He was surprised by her eagerness to leave, though he understood it. More to the point, he hated so much of Newport that he wasn't sure what to do; the Pier held too many memories of Ryan, as did the beach.

"I hadn't really thought of that, actually," he said frankly.

"Well, unlike you, I've been planning my escape all afternoon," she responded. "Since your cars are in the garage, and I came with Julie, we're going to need a cab. Why don't we head up to SC? I can show you around campus?"

"Sure; anything has to be better than my house right now."

After Seth had agreed to her plan, he went to call a cab for them. No one would notice if a cab showed up, which was exactly what Seth wanted. His mind was wondering as he thought of all the things that could happen with Marissa. He never noticed that the sky was getting darker.

He finally had a call from the cab saying that it was downstairs.

"Cab's here," he said.

"Ok. How should we get down?"

"Well, I usually just find a way down, but that's not going to work."

"Really, I never would have guessed that," she said wryly.

"Fine. Point taken. I'll get down and then help you by telling you where to go."

"What to take charge; Summer always said you were horrible at stuff like that."

Hurt by what Marissa had said, "Well, some things have changed since high school."

Seth, determined to live up to his newfound assertiveness, made his way down from the second story. He waited at the front of the house as he told Marissa the best way to get down.

Just as she touched the drive way, she felt something wet hit her cheek. She looked up and noticed that the sky had grown dark on this February day.

Seth noticed the drop hit Marissa. "If this is going to keep up, we should make our way to the cab sooner rather than later," he said.

"You're right. Let's go!"

She made her way down to the cab, and as she did, Seth couldn't help but notice how well his clothes fit her. The shirt was big, sure, but his jeans hung loosely on her hips. He stood for another second, and at that moment, it started to rain. In a minute, the rain has moved from steady to a downpour.

_In that instant it started to pour_

_Captured a taxi despite all the rain…_

**So here ends another chapter. I hope you liked it, of course, but if you didn't please let me know what isn't working for you. Seeing as I have a vague idea where this is going, I'd love to have some suggestions about anything to keep you reading.**

**As a teaser: what will the rain bring?**


	4. We Drove in Silence

**Sorry that it took me some time to get back to this. I'm glad that so many of you like where this story is going; it makes the process so much better when people want to read it. Hopefully this story will continue in the same vain.**

**Disclaimer: I still don't own _The OC_ or "Your Ex-Lover is Dead", but I can use them, right?**

Chapter 3: We Drove in Silence…

_We drove in silence…_

As the rain came down on Seth and Marissa they reached the yellow taxi at the foot of the Cohen driveway. Seth opened the door, and Marissa scooted in first.

Marissa was impressed at how nice Seth was being about this whole day. He was the one that just lost his brother, and he still had the decency to hold open the car door.

Seth scooted in next, trying to put as much distance between Marissa and himself as possible. Despite her beauty, something in him thought that looking at Ryan's ex-girlfriend was a moral sin, especially since Ryan hadn't been in the ground more than a few hours.

The cab was quiet after they entered, and it took a minute before the driver interrupted with, "Where ya goin' today?"

Marissa responded, "USC, please. Gamma Phi Delta House, more specifically."

"Sure thing, honey," the greasy man replied. He started the meter and drove out of the neighborhood.

At the mention of a sorority, Seth wanted to respond, but everything he thought sounded stupid. He hadn't thought about Marissa's life at USC at all. He was still thinking about her and Ryan at Harbor. He remembered all their drama, and then he stopped himself. There was no use thinking about the past, he thought, and went back to thinking about her life at SC.

He should have guessed that she'd rush a sorority, since she was such a popular person. Something about it, though, felt odd to him. He knew she wasn't too shallow, and any sorority at SC, he thought, had to be shallow in nature. They were all girls, like the ones at Harbor, who had too much money and too many pairs of Jimmy Choos and not enough sense to think about the rest of the country that wasn't so poor.

------

The silence in the cab was killing Marissa. She was feeling so self-conscious after announcing that they were going to a sorority house. She knew that Seth was too awkward to say anything about her being in a sorority, but she felt him looking at her differently.

To her disbelieve, she couldn't believe that she was at Delta Phi either. She'd come to SC after breaking up with Ryan and in desperate need of some fun. After all of the time that she and Summer had made their way to Rush Week for the boys, she decided to check it out as a student.

The Deltas were a nice enough group of women. She liked them, and they liked her. Sitting in this cab with Seth, though, she thought that he'd hate what she'd become. Did he think she was more like Summer? That would horrible, since she knew that their last break-up was really hard on him.

Marissa moved around on her side of the backseat, hoping Seth would notice and say something. She hoped that this silence would be over. Looking out the window she noticed that they were only at the 73-405 interchange. They still had 40 miles to go and with the rain, people were driving like bigger idiots than the rest of the time.

------

Seth had noticed Marissa's movements and her wistful look out the window. After all the bravado he'd shown by talking to her at the wake and the ease of their conversation in his room, he didn't know what to do.

It was painfully obvious to him that he was still a loser, like he'd been at Harbor. No amount of time away from Newport was going to change that. He realized that he'd had a pretty good time at Columbia. He'd found people who like Death Cab, were preppy, but not athletic. He'd found a group of people he could stand to spend time with. No one would ever replace what he had with Ryan, but he tried to keep those thoughts from his mind. Ryan shouldn't be thought about now—that was all Seth thought. Just like Grandma Nichol, Ryan's memory was set in stone—no one could talk about him with anything but respect.

Even if Seth's new friends were the more supportive, Ryan was always going to be the comparative measure. He thought about all of his friends at college and wondered if they would fight to keep him safe, like Ryan had done that night he arrived.

His thoughts were making him crazy, but Seth didn't know what to do. He realized that he'd had his arms crossed around his chest the entire trip. Realizing that it wasn't polite to have such hostile body language, he unfolded his hands and put one on the leather of the cab.

The noise that Seth's hand made when it touched the leather shocked Marissa. She turned her head to see what was wrong. As she looked down, she saw Seth's hand. Without another thought, she slowly moved her hand from her leg to near where Seth's hand was. As her hand got closer, she felt something in her urging her forward, towards Seth's hand. She gave in to her inner voice, and put her hand on top of Seth's.

As her hand touched his, Seth felt a jolt of something in him. The quiet was getting to him, and he thought that Marissa's extended hand was a signal to talk. Before he did, though, he thought about it. Marissa was being a friend. He decided not to mess with whatever they had in this moment, and he moved his hand so that the two hands were palm to palm.

_And all of the time you thought I was sad…_

**Well, I don't think that was what most of you were expecting, but hopefully it will keep you reading.**

**Let me know if that chapter of heavy internal thoughts worked, please. It felt right to me.**


	5. The Scar

**I got some nice feedback about the car ride, so I'm guessing everyone else is ok with it. **

**Here comes another chapter, which hopefully will get us closer to the big moment.**

**As always, I love feedback…I can't get better at this unless you help me.**

**Disclaimer: I still don't own anything in this story. Sad really?**

Chapter 4: The Scar

_The Scar is a fleck on my porcelain skin…_

Seth and Marissa held hands for the last 30 minutes of the cab ride to USC before having to separate when they arrived at the Delta Phi Gamma House.

The silence was broken when the driver announced, "That'll be $140.60."

Marissa looked over at Seth, and he realized that it was on him to pay.

"Sure thing! Thanks for the ride." With that, Seth handed over $180, and scooted out of the cab first.

After he was out of the cab, he finally noticed that the rain had stopped somewhere during their drive. He held is hand out to Marissa as she was exiting the car, and she quickly grabbed it before she took the lead and walked up towards her house.

"Don't worry, Seth. No one is going to give you dirty looks for being here. If anything, I'll get the looks since I told the girls I was going home for the day."

Somehow Marissa's voice didn't calm Seth down at all—he felt like he did before Ryan arrived. These women that Marissa lived with would probably think he was just some loser that Marissa promised a mercy fuck to, not her high school boyfriend's brother. Seth fussed with his hand as Marissa kept her grip strong. She wasn't going to let him go, no matter what happened when she walked in.

They approached the house and Marissa looked down at her right hand—Seth's was still intertwined with hers. She looked over at him, and he finally caught her stare.

It took him a second, but he realized that she couldn't open the door. With his hand, he turned the knob and walked into the house.

The foyer of the house was open and colored a light green. Seth was impressed with how the house looked, since this was something he had never seen at Columbia.

"Nice digs," he commented.

"Thanks. It's note Caleb's old McMansion, that's for sure. Anything had to be better than that."

"I'm sure. Living with Caleb was never easy."

"Oh, Caleb wasn't the problem—Julie was."

With that Seth let out a laugh. He realized that it was the first time he'd laughed since he found out about Ryan. It felt good, he thought. He never thought that Marissa Cooper would have made him laugh, but he went with the feeling.

------

Marissa realized, after her conversation about Caleb, that talking about the dead, even in jest, was a bad idea today. She, of course, was horrible at these social moments. How she managed to get to be so popular she wasn't sure at the moment.

She led Seth out of the foyer and turns at large grand staircase. Her excitement was growing, so she started to move more quickly. With that move, she lost Seth's hand.

As she realized that, she decided to try and make Seth laugh again. "First one to my room gets treated to dinner."

"Not fair! I have no idea where I'm going."

"Well, then I guess we're going to Nobu for dinner tonight."

Seth didn't feel like arguing with anyone, so he acquiesced and tried to find Marissa's room.

When he walked down the second floor, he thought he heard the distinctive sounds of Rooney. He walked towards the sounds of "Shakin'" thinking of Luke at that concert. Sure enough, the door was ajar and Marissa sat on her bed listening to the album.

"Haven't thought of them in ages," Seth remarked.

"I know. We had a good time that night, right?"

"I don't know. Oliver got arrested for trying to buy coke, Luke yelled at us because he stood too close to a speaker, and Summer found out Anna and I were dating. I don't remember the concert except for that."

"Well, I guess it's better than my memories. Ryan wanted…" she trailed off, realizing that Ryan should be an off-limits.

"It's ok Marissa. You can talk about him. We should remember the good times."

"Right, because Ryan and I had so many of those," she snarked back. Suddenly she realized how bitchy that sounded and tried to take some of it back.

"Sorry, Seth—I didn't mean to snap. I just tried so hard to forget him once we broke up, and Julie's call didn't help."

"I can understand that," he said empathically. Truth be told, he realized how much Ryan's death was going to make Newport hell all over again. He hadn't had many good Seth/Ryan moments once they left for college. Even though the distance between New York City and Ithaca wasn't far, there was a distance between them.

Marissa watched as Seth responded. He looked sad, which he hadn't been earlier. She looked around her room for anything to help Seth out, and then she noticed Share Bear sitting by her pillows.

"Will Share Bear help? She's a really good listener, remember?" she asked quietly.

"Talking to your stuff animal won't help, but if you want to listen, that'd be cool," he responded coldly. Seth's emotions were starting to get the best of him, which annoyed him. He needed to put Ryan behind him, but sitting in a room with Marissa made it so much harder.

"Sure thing Seth; I know that Ryan meant so much to you. I'll listen," she said. She motioned with her hand for him to sit on her bed. She hadn't noticed that he was still standing over her. He looked so imposing, but he was breaking inside.

"Thanks," he replied. "I know that Ryan was a huge part of your life in Newport, but he was an even bigger part of mine. Until he came to town, I hated everything about the city."

"Even Summer?" Marissa questioned. Seth gave her an evil look, and then continued.

"For the most part, Newport was just a place that I needed to be until I could leave all of the pretexts and find normal people outside. For everything that sucked about Newport, Ryan reminded me that there was something else. He didn't meet me at school or know how much of a loser I was, and he still liked me."

"I never knew how much you hated Newport until now…" Marissa couldn't believe that Seth hated the city so much. She though back on how she treated Seth before Ryan came to town—she didn't remember a single moment with him.

"It's ok Marissa. It's just hard to realize that after so many years of Ryan being part of Newport he's not going to be around anymore. All of the confidence that I had when he was around won't matter anymore."

Marissa was trying to stay strong while Seth poured out all of the emotions in his head, but she knew that it wouldn't last long. She started to move closer to Seth to comfort him, but thought that it might be awkward for him. She stayed in the same spot on her bed, and Seth continued to talk.

"Even though Ryan and I went to different schools, I always things would be the same when we came home for vacations. I guess I forgot that Ryan would make new friends, as would I, and that we'd lose something in transition." Seth's voice was starting to break, and he felt like crying. He tried to hold it back, but it wasn't going to happen.

Seth started to talk again, but this time the words were lost in the slow and steady sobs. Marissa decided that it was now acceptable to try and comfort Seth. She slowly moved over towards him, and wrapped her arms around him.

She leaned into his shoulder and said, "Its ok Seth…let it out." She then picked up her head and kissed his forehead.

**Well, there's the end of this chapter. I know it's longer than the previous ones, but I think this sort of scene needed more background and discussion. **

**As always, I'd love to know what you thought. Please review…**


End file.
